Remember that time when I talked about how much Abe loves his Fisher Price Discovery Cottage and assured you all that Fisher Price was not compensating me for the shout out via a time portal from 1985?
Yeah, well, I don’t think you’re ever going to believe me after this post.
See, what happened was that I realized Abe’s new room, despite being similar in size to Abe’s old room, has a ton more wall space. Old room had one wall that was mostly windows, one wall with board and batten, and one “wall” that was actually a curtain room divider.
I had to think fast.
And what I thought about was the Little People print Kenz of Interiors by Kenz has in her baby’s fabulous nursery. And then I thought about this playroom I pinned recently:
…with pictures of Lego mini-figures blown up as engineering prints.
Those two ideas swirled around together in my brain for awhile, and then it spat out a new idea: prints of some of Abe’s very favorite toys to fill some of that real estate in his new room. It didn’t hurt that his favorite toys happen to be adorable and vintage (and, in the case of the tricycle, the perfect colors for his nursery).
I picked up some white foam core board (I think that’s what it’s called) to make a back drop. I’ve recreated the scene for you here, since I didn’t take pictures of myself taking pictures at the time. Basically, I set the toys up on the backdrop in the sunroom, snapped a bunch of pictures (I would have used my 50mm lens instead of the kit lens had I been thinking about it. Apparently I wasn’t, but it turned out okay). Then edited (I use Photoscape) until I was happy with them.
I ordered 11 by 14 prints from Mpix for around $8 each and then picked up white frames at Hobby Lobby during half price frame week (which is every other week). The frames were $15 each, so the project wound up being not super cheap, but, of course, I can reuse the frames for something else when Abe outgrows his Little People (but let’s not think about that ever happening just yet).
Abe was delighted when he saw these. He thought they were the funniest things ever. Blew his little mind, in a good way.
We hung them up over his dresser in his new room. I had originally thought they’d go over the crib, but then I got too nervous about glass hanging out right over my sleeping baby.
Taking pictures of the pictures (in that darkish, smallish room with a window on one side) proved much more challenging than taking pictures of the actual toys. But I persevered, making use of the timer on my camera and a baby blanket to cut the glare from the window. Self portrait with Little People:
One wall down, three to go!
Truth be told, I might be almost as delighted with these as Abe is. I sure do love me some Little People.
Linking with:
I love the photos, but appreciate the photography tips even more! I’m Starting to think that better photos might be in order on my blog after all the blurry Beaver Buggy shots.
Nothing like a blog to force you to improve your photography skills! Abe’s baby pictures are so much better than my poor older kids’ 🙂
Love how these came out. What a fabulous idea too. I use foam core all the time as a backdrop. They work really well and makes it easy to blow out the background 🙂 Great tip!
I’d been meaning to buy some for forever, but it took this project to make me finally get around to it!
what a unique idea! I love it!
Thanks, Stephanie!
This is the coolest idea! I love that it’s something he truly loves, and not just decorative. (Although it looks great for decorative purposes, too.)
I’m not sure what I would have done if all of his favorite toys were ugly 😉
EEK! this is AWESOME gretchen! i adore adore adore…. just like miley.
Thanks, Cassie 🙂
These are fantastic! Nice job!
Thank you!
Love these! We have that little dog in a stacking toy and it’s one of my favourites. I’m so glad Abe liked them!
oh, I know exactly the stacking toy you’re talking about! love that little dog 🙂
Love love love these and bringing back memories again
I love this so much! Those blown up lego print are ridiculously awesome. I’m not the creative with scale and placement. Love that you took his toys and made art!
Thanks, Amber!
GAH. I love iitttttt!! So much! What is about fisher price little people that gives me an instant shot of happiness?! Great idea for art!
They’re just so friendly looking! And non-threatening, what with the lack of arms and all….
Wow!
These look great!
Very original….love it!
Thanks so much, Jen!
That’s a great idea! Pinning. Linda
Thanks so much, Linda!
GREAT, great idea!!! I love this. So adorable, vintage, and sweet. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Leslie, and thanks so much for stopping by 🙂
Wow, these are really awesome! So creative.
Thank you!
What an awesome idea! These are amazing! So sweet. Thank you so much for linking up at Thursday STYLE! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Thanks so much, and thanks for hosting!
Adorable idea! Love it!
Great idea! It turned out so cute!
Thanks, Jenny!
what a great idea!! i would lovr to do this for my son. He has a lot of little trains. Thanx for the idea.
oh, trains would make super cute photos! thanks for stopping by!
Oh my goodness, what a clever idea! These are so cute! Thanks so much for sharing them at Best of the Nest!
Thank you, Pam!
How fun and nostalgic! Your photography is awesome, and I love how graphic these turned out, and that your little one was delighted!! I am traumatized that we no longer have Little People in our house. The actual human little people became teenagers without my permission! Thanks so much for sharing your new artwork with Best Of The Nest. You have a great blog!
You aren’t saving them for the grandkids?! 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by and for the great link party!
Well, isn’t that just the cutest! I love how you’ve incorporated things your son loves into the room decor with these. Thanks so much for linking up to our Best of the Nest Party!
Thanks, Jennifer….and thanks for hosting!
Those look great! I did a DIY art print for my son’s nursery as well 🙂
http://www.beforemeetsafterblog.com/2013/09/diy-nursery-wall-art.html
Such a great idea, Gretchen!! I loved the photo from Interior by Kenz too. I’ll be keeping this idea in mind for fun art.
OH MY GOODNESS I”M OBSESSED! I have an unhealthy obsession with mid-80’s fisher price little people. I keep looking on the classifieds for them. I WILL have some by the time Evelyn is big enough to play with them. You did such a great job photographing them!
Thanks, Kenz! It kind of makes me cry to think how much of this stuff I had when I was a kid, and my mother heartlessly got rid of all of it when I outgrew it. How could she not have thought of her future grandchildren!? But back then maybe we thought choking hazard style Little People would be around forever….
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